The only thing I did not like about Red Circle was that it ended! What an amazing life story woven artfully and so sensitively! Stephen Songsheng Chen's descriptive detail made me feel like I was walking in his shadow in China or wherever he happened to be at the moment. Red Circle is a warm and wonderful tribute to the Chen family; from a frugal grandfather who saved 20 silver coins throughout times of great poverty so he could give them to his son to make a better life in the big city; to Stephen's father, a highly respected professor, patriot, and successful entrepreneur, unjustly scorned during Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution; to Stephen's own rise and fall and rise again, a master of English and lover of Chinese opera who achieved great acclaim as a performer. Outcast as the son of a Rightist, Stephen served two terms in labor camps until an amazing twist of fate rescued him from herding sheep in a far western province. From there, as Stephen's uncle once told him, the wide highway stretched before him, and, at almost 71, he's still raring to go! For an excellent view of China then and now and of a great family's survival, Red Circle enlightens, amazes, and touches the heart. I wish I could give Red Circle more than five stars!